Archive for January, 2016

CRE’s white paper discussing the revised federal standards policy, An Updated Look at the Federal Policies Governing How Agencies Use Voluntary Consensus Standards in Regulatory, Procurement, and Science Documents is here. The Final Revision of OMB Circular A-119 is available here. OMB’s Federal Register notice is here. CRE’s white paper on federal regulatory preference for consensus and market-driven consortia standards is here. Below are excerpts from Revised A-119.

Revision of OMB Circular A-119. OMB is revising this Circular in light of developments in regulation, standards, and conformity assessment since the Circular was last revised in 1998. These revisions reflect the experience gained by U.S. agencies in implementing the Circular since 1998, and concluding and implementing U.S. trade agreements, as well as developments in domestic and international regulatory, standards, and conformity assessment policies.

From: The Hill

By Sherzod Abdukadirov, contributor

***

Agencies rush to issue regulations at the end of the administration primarily for two reasons: to avoid delays and to avoid scrutiny. The change in the administration and the often-lengthy confirmation process for new agency heads that follows can disrupt agencies’ operations and delay regulations. Consequently, agencies try to get their regulations out before the outgoing administration leaves office. Alternatively, agencies may deliberately hold off on finalizing controversial regulations until the midnight period when they face few political repercussions and little oversight.